.The United States is going the way of Russia — but not in the way conservatives would have you think. While conservatives are busy fighting unemployment benefits for middle-class Americans out of work in the midst of a lagging economy, they ignore the fact that powerful plutocrats — money lords, media barons and other capitalist insiders — are increasing their stranglehold on the American system. Conservatives say this is “free enterprise” and “the American way” but traditional populists, in the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, say otherwise.In fact, what’s happening in America recalls what happened in Russia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet state: A handful of greedy vultures grabbed control of the Russian economy and the political apparatus arising from the remnants of the Communist Party superstructure that dominated the USSR for some 75 years. Hardly more than 10 in number, these so-called “oligarchs” — most of them Jewish, not ethnic Russians — became the new ruling class in Russia. Preying upon the Russian people, they looted the economy and bought control of the nation’smedia, reigning supreme, cooperating with the interests, in the West, of the Rothschild dynasty. Here in America, things are little different. Some have reflected upon this sad state of affairs and what lies behind it: In the book The Betrayal of the American Dream, Donald Barlett and James B. Steele denounced the “rapacious job-killing strategies” of those whom they correctly call “the ruling class.” You’ve heard of free trade and Mitt Romney-style “outsourcing,” haven’t you? Ex-Rep. David Stockman (R-Mich.) has denounced the rise of “crony capitalism” which — he points out — is anything but traditional conservatism: It has saddled America with debt and fiscal collapse, accompanied by a massive rise in military spending propping up the United States (and entangling America in foolish foreign ventures) as a global policeman.However, as Stockman notes, the advocates of these policies — who loudly proclaim their opposition to “big government” — offer no challenge to Wall Street or the military-industrial complex or to the Federal Reserve which, he says needs “a sweeping housecleaning.” So all those worrying about socialismin America missed the big picture, ignoring what media critics John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney have called the “dollarocracy” which they contend has set in place a “money andmedia election complex” that is destroying America.A handful of billionaires — liberal and conservative alike, ranging from predatory speculator George Soros on the “left” to Las Vegas gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his Israeli wife Miriam on the “right” — American politicians, virtually unchallenged. Unaccountable money via socalled “super PACs” floods our elections and media companies rake in billions in profits from advertising revenues generated by the PACs.This incestuous system mirrors precisely what happened in Russia. So, yes, America has gone the way of Russia.But there’s now a new paradigm in place in Russia: Vladimir Putin turned the tables on those rapacious oligarchs who put him in power in the first place. And while the kings of the kleptocracy still control 70% of the Russian media, Putin carefully plays a multi-level geopolitical chess game, fighting not only his opposition at home but its allies among the intriguers of New York, London and Tel Aviv. The final outcome remains to be seen, but Americans are being told by the Zionist-controlled media that Putin is a “secret socialist” who wants to conquer the world. The truth is that if Americanswant to get back to good old-fashioned Americanism — however defined — we do need to go the way of Russia and find a leader like Putin.